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12 Democrats criticizing the Obamacare rollout

While Republicans have long since slammed the president’s signature health care law, some Democrats have made public their criticism of the federal health care exchange rollout and its website as well as venting frustration from their constituents about the cancellations of existing health care plans.

Alaska

“I’m disappointed in how it’s been implemented and rolled out. There was too many people making decisions that weren’t coordinated. There wasn’t a focus on how this would work.” -- Sen. Mark Begich (D-Alaska), Nov. 14.

“I can tell you that a couple more sentences added to it would’ve clarified it, and they should’ve been added. The president has apologized. I think he said very clearly he was sorry if he misled people.” -- Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), Nov. 12.

John Shinkle/POLITICO

“Too many Americans are struggling to make ends meet. We must ensure that in our effort to reform the health care system, we do not allow unintended consequences to go unaddressed.” -- Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), Nov. 12.

“These problems are simply unacceptable, and Americans deserve answers and swift solutions. Taxpayers are owed a full and transparent accounting of how the vendors contracted to build the site failed to launch it successfully.” -- Sen. Kay Hagan (D-N.C.) in a letter to Government Accountability Office Comptroller General Gene Dodaro and Health and Human Services Inspector General Daniel Levinson, Nov. 11.

Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.)

“The difficulty that people in New Hampshire and in other states that are relying on the federally facilitated marketplaces are experiencing is incredibly frustrating and disappointing.” -- Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.) in a letter to President Barack Obama, Oct. 22.

“The promise was made, and it should be kept. And it was our understanding when we voted for that bill that people when they have insurance could keep with what they had. So I’m going to be working on that fix.” -- Sen. Mary Landrieu (D-La.), Oct. 30.

“I have all along said that the Affordable Care Act, which was passed before I came to Congress, needs revision. As the implementation goes forward, we’re going to find more and more areas where it doesn’t work exactly as intended or hoped for, and we will need to be open to opportunities to work together.” -- Sen. Chris Coons (D-Del.), Nov. 13.

“I voted to make sure that happens even though it is a far from perfect bill. The Affordable Care Act does many good things, but I’m disappointed in the administration’s implementation because it leaves my neighbors with a lot of uncertainty.” -- Rep. Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill.) told the Chicago Sun-Times, Nov. 15.

“When the law was passed by the Congress, the intention of the law was to ‘grandfather’ insurance plans that were in existence at the time of law’s passage. It is incredibly frustrating that individuals are losing policies that they want, even in the face of that congressional intent and understanding. That’s a big problem, and why I have voted to allow existing health insurance plans to continue into next year.” -- Rep. Nick Rahall (D-W.Va.), Nov. 15.

“They’re telling us all about actuarial tables and all about how the process would work and all of this is fine and great and it would be great in a classroom and you would get an A on your test, but this isn’t about getting an A on your test, this is about ads.” -- Rep. Steve Cohen (D-Tenn.), Nov. 13.

“I personally believe, even if it takes a change to the law, the president should honor the commitment the federal government made to those people and let them keep what they got.” -- Former President Bill Clinton, Nov. 12.

“This was bungled badly. This was not a server problem -- just too many people came to the website -- this is a website architecture problem. I think it is, again, excruciatingly embarrassing.” -- Robert Gibbs, Oct. 14.